write your own linux virus

[jhu]

hey y'all. here's how to write your own linux virus. it's only for linux on the x86 platform. i remeber back in the dos days when viruses were easier to write. no root permissions or whatnot to impede you. ah memories...

 

[n0cmonkey]

"Since regular users can't overwrite system files (we are talking about serious operating systems here) that is not even half the journey," he said.

 

[Armitage]

<< "Since regular users can't overwrite system files (we are talking about serious operating systems here) that is not even half the journey," he said.

>>



Yea, basically this paper tells you how to insert code into an existing elf binary, and have it execute when that binary runs. This is only a small part of the problem of writing a successful virus. How do you get it to propagate? How do you get a user to execute it? How do you get a root user to execute it? How do get around things like tripwire and trivial md5 checksums?

The fact that you can get foreign code to execute inside an elf binary isn't all that exciting in itself.

 

[HigherGround]

this article is totally worthless, in reality rather than mess with elf executables, it would be easier to drop a global LD_PRELOAD environment variable that points to your home brewed shared object, which overrides ( or installs hooks ) over a commonly used symbols in libc ( malloc/free comes to mind ) ... either way, to be really effective, you'll need superuser priviliges at one point or another.

 

[nortexoid]

on another note, why even post this type of ish on a msg board?

so that a bunch of retarded wanna-be hackers can populate linux viruses?...u'd think most of the linux community/users would have better things to do - like nerdacious nerdolizing or something...not writing viruses for the platform they themselves use.

of course, non-linux users could just as well write it.

all in all, i haven't scanned my hdd for years...in fact, i haven't had a virus checker installed for years....ah well.

 

[Armitage]

<< u'd think most of the linux community/users would have better things to do - like nerdacious nerdolizing or something...not writing viruses for the platform they themselves use. >>



I think it's a good thing that the linux community is experimenting with viruses. Because, as Linux grows in popularirty, the bad guys will be. How will you defend against the threat if you don't understand it? Head-in-the-sand doesn't cut it.

 

[Nothinman]

u'd think most of the linux community/users would have better things to do - like nerdacious nerdolizing or something...not writing viruses for the platform they themselves use.

of course, non-linux users could just as well write it.

Researching how to exploit a system is a big part of keeping it secure, you have to understand all the ways a threat can get in in order to protect against them. And the people not using the system won't be very good at it, because they don't know the system well enough to really exploit it.